Why we invested in Derby: St James Securities

With the latest phase of the £230 million regeneration of Becketwell set to complete next year, St James Securities is delivering on the vision to create a place where people can ‘live, work and play’.

The first phase involved the creation of a new public square and a 259 build-to-rent apartments scheme, known as The Condor.

Early next year, work is due to complete on a brand new £45.8 million 3,500-capacity performance venue, which represents the second phase.

St James Securities is responsible for delivering the Becketwell regeneration scheme – and at the recent Derby Property Summit, its director Paul Morris explained why major names like Grainger plc and ASM Global have come on board.

He also explained why his company decided to get involved after seeing something “very special” in Derby.

Here is what he said:

“The first time I spoke at the Derby Property Summit seven years ago, I came with a big bright idea, which was all drawings, CGIs and nothing more.

Since then, we have been working very, very closely with our partners at Derby City Council. Everybody got together and shared a vision.

At the time, the area was suffering from terrible deprivation, which is always a good sign for a site where you want to do regeneration.

When we came to the site in 2017 the Debenhams store had just been bought by the city council, there was Duckworth Square and various other buildings, including the Pink Coconut and Laurie House.

The vision was ‘live, work and play. To actually make sure we could bring people back into the city centre to live, to enjoy their leisure time and also to do some work as well.

No disrespect to Pride Park, but we need to bring offices back to the city centre.

So, that was the vision we had at the very beginning.

We are a Leeds-based property developer – and I think that says a lot about Derby as a city.

We felt very confident – having undertaken substantial regeneration projects in places like Leeds, Wakefield and Sheffield – that Derby had all the ingredients – the workforce, the spending power and an incredibly attractive city centre -places like The Strand and The Wardwick.

So, we saw something that was very special – and the opportunity.

We envisaged that there needed to be a new public space – it was all about place and public realm.

Through the city council, we were able to access funds from the D2N2 LEP to allow the creation of a new public square.

But the biggest coup at that time was being able to attract Grainger plc, one of the best operators in the UK.

We agreed that deal the second week of lockdown, which says an awful lot about this great city.

At the time, nobody knew which way the country was going – but they were still prepared to put their money where their mouth was. That was a £38 million investment.

That was a game-changer for the city. Build-to-rent had never really existed in Derby, certainly not of this quality. The Condor would set the benchmark in terms of the BTR market.

Then we worked with the city council to come up with a solution for the performance venue.

Now, this is an absolute game-changer. Such facilities haven’t been here since the fire at the Assembly Rooms in 2014.

And the fact that we have been able to get ASM Global – the world leaders in operating venues – again, it was another first for Derby.

Grainger, then ASM Global – they saw the potential here.

The new performance venue will be multi-functional – it will be able to stage comedy, music, conferencing, exhibitions.

It will bring 250,000 additional people to this area a year.

I remember talking to some businesses a couple of years ago who were still saying you will never get people to come into the city centre.

The performance venue is exactly what we need – it’s the footfall.

I know there is a group working now with all the people who have businesses and property interests in the surrounding streets.

They will recognise the ripple effect of regeneration. There are already people starting to refurbish their own premises on the back of the fact the performance venue is coming.

The impact cannot be underestimated. The streets around the performance venue will completely change over the next five years.

Moving forward, we’ve worked out the feasibility for the remaining sites. What we can’t do is stop.

On Duckworth Square we have some options. We are looking at creating some Grade ‘A’ office space.

I’m unashamed to say I will be working very hard to attract Great British Railways into the city centre and next to that potentially some more build-to-rent, a hotel and a multi storey car park – we have been talking to some office occupiers and hotel operators.

The offices are part of that live, work and play mantra.

So, very exciting times ahead. Looking towards 2025, I’ve never felt more optimistic.

We are incredibly excited to be working as part of a team with the other developers here in Derby to make this great city something really, really special.”